We're open for business again!

Yes, here we go again with another season! On Friday 1st March the Gallery re-opened for business and this was my outfit of the day. No points for guessing where I found this fabulous jumpsuit - Vinted, of course! I've been selling consistently as part of my ongoing clear out and that's given me a bit of a healthy piggy bank with Vinted which helps when I find something as lovely as this.

Sasha introduced me to not only the joys of Vinted over a year ago, but also the Lucy & Yak brand. I'm very grateful to her. My jewellery is all old, the necklace was from Topshop and the rings are charity shopped. The orange stretch belt was from Amazon last summer.

The mustard jacket was a charity shop find from a couple of years ago, the brand is Boohoo. The whole look is very autumnal I know, but these colours do work for me. 

The orange ankle boots are rather fabulous and were from ASOS. I've broken them in over the past year and they're now all-day long wearable, hurrah! I do wonder if this penchant of mine for orange will eventually take over my entire wardrobe and I'll be dressing like a member of Hare Krishna by the time I'm an old dear.

And that pretty much winds things up for this week. I'm busy having training in the workplace as we update our computer systems. The challenge has been made even more, well challenging, given that my trainer is my daughter. Having the tables turned after a lifetime of thinking I can give her the benefit of my knowledge is a very odd situation to find myself in. She's a very bright cookie, as sharp as a knife and a great educator, but golly I'm finding it hard not to feel stressed out by it all. Jointly we're struggling with time pressures amongst everything else, but hopefully by the time I come to report back to you next week I'll be feeling a bit more confident in my skills.

Wishing you a lovely week!

Anna x

Sequins and camo for daytime

Eeek, it's only another 7 sleeps until Christmas and I'm so far off being ready! But let's move swifty on... Today I'm touting this daytime look that throws sequins on top of camo print in the loudest of colours. As you may know, I love orange, can't get enough of the colour and therefore when I came across these cargo pants on Vinted (new with the labels still attached) I just knew they were meant for me.

The trousers are so practical for work, yet eye poppingly bright and breezy that they yell out fun. I'll be wearing them this week while I do my final preparations to get the Gallery ready for opening. I'll swap out these orange leather boots (Asos) for my baseball camo ones and add a big cardigan for warmth.

My glitter top was a charity shop purchase from years ago and the orange sequin jacket came from TK Maxx a few years ago; I bring it out every Christmastime and it always makes people smile. The padding makes for a lovely snuggly winter jacket as well as being totally glam.

Glitter, sequins and camo meant I could get away with the minimum of jewellery. The classic black sunglasses are by Radley London and orange belt is from Primark.

Well, I suppose I'd better get back to my fudge making again. I've only one more batch to make this afternoon, making a total of over 24 pounds of the sweet stuff for family and friends. 

By tomorrow this will all be wrapped and packed into colourful boxes ready to distribute to my family here on the islands. It truly is the joy of giving!

I'll be back on Christmas day with my style sisters for our monthly style challenge, so if you get a quiet moment over the festive period please do swing by to see our take on Christmas Dressing.

Wishing you a very Happy Christmas!

Anna x

Inspired by Autumn, our Style Not Age challenge

Hello and welcome to November's Style Not Age challenge, chosen this month by Hilda. Inspired by Autumn suited me down to the ground as this was my work outfit from Friday showing my version of autumn delights. Burnt orange is a favourite seasonal choice of mine, but let's catch up with my blogging friends first to see how they interpreted this one...

Well, it looks like Jacqui and I were singing from the same sheet this time with our orange jackets, floral dresses and boots. Her jacket and dress are both from Bonmarche and boots are Clarks, handbag gifted from Teddy Blake. Catch up on her latest news on Mummabstylish.

Emma has shopped her closet for this stylish outfit - jacket and handbag were both from eBay, trousers and boots from M&S and top was from Joanie Clothing. The rich burgundy velvet jacket certainly says autumn to me! See more from Emma at Style Splash blog. 

Hilda's weekend look is indeed in autumnal hues. She too has shopped her closet for the challenge adding the only new item, a bright red scarf to finish her outfit. I love her boots and jacket and will be hopping across to her blog for more details - OvertheHilda. 

Zingy lemon and orange are Gail's autumn colours, and golly how fab they are together! The coat is from ASOS, scarf and top are from Kettlewell, leggings from M&S and boots are from Office. See more from Gail on Is This Mutton. 

Details of my ensemble are: fur coat from TK Maxx, dress from Joe Brown's (gifted), roll neck, old and charity shopped, boots from ASOS, belt from Amazon, gloves (old), sunglasses from Radley London, resin necklace (very old). 

To keep out the November chills at work I donned this extra layer - another autumnal offering by way of this fairisle cardigan (charity shopped last year). A woollen layer is what my mother-in-law always urged me to wear if I ever complained of being cold. It tickles me that I now pass on these wise words to workmates whenever they remark on our draughty workplace.

I'm still breaking in my new orange leather boots (from ASOS), but did manage to wear them all day long this time. The heel isn't terribly high, although the pointed toes do eventually tweak by the end of the day.

No new jewellery here, simply orange rings and necklace from my collection. Stretch belt was from Amazon earlier this year.

Despite the Gallery being closed for the winter, I do still like to make an effort and dress up for work. We have our winter schedule in place which means we have artists' residencies running over the next few months so I do see a steady trickle of them over the course of each week. Me dressing up is another way of conveying the fact that I take my role as Gallery Manager seriously; I do like to still have an air of professionalism about the place. 

Thanks for dropping by for our monthly challenge - I do hope you've enjoyed it!

Anna x

Call me Sybil!

Hi there! Do you remember Sybil Fawlty from Fawlty Towers? This frilled blouse brings her to mind don't you think? I fell in love with it at first sight, buying it without pause from Vinted last month. I love everything about it; the coral colour, the abundance of frills and flounces and general over-the-top look of it all. 

I thought the blouse deserved an outdoors photoshoot to capture the movement of the chiffon and up on the top of the island was a great setting. 

As you know, I totally love a bit of drama and this backdrop seemed to be perfect to showcase my new glamorous purchase. The view from King Charles' Castle overlooks Bryher and onwards out to the wild Atlantic Ocean. 

The crop flares are very old, but work well with the look, as do my orange leather boots - find them in the sale on the ASOS website here. The Gallery may be closed at the moment, but that's not going to stop me dressing up just for the heck of it!

I added a wide belt to bring the outfit together - this is very old too, but being leather has simply improved with age.

The entire outfit has been pulled together from existing pieces in my wardrobe, apart from the blouse obviously. Even the rings are old, also pre-loved, bought in charity shops.

The finishing touch is this beautiful oxblood leather coat by Next which I bought second hand from the Oxfam shop in Truro. A leather coat or jacket is such a worthy investment and this one is a keeper for me.

I feel I need to mention that I've sold a few items on Vinted recently which I think helps to counter the recent rash of purchases. At least if I can bankroll my purchases by selling at the same time then I'll arrive at a point of balance!

Wishing you a fab week!

Anna x

Power Dressing, this month's SNA challenge

Hello again! Can you believe it's the last Monday of September? Man, where did that go? Anyway, here's what's probably going to be my favourite autumn/winter outfit this year. I love to find an out of season piece that I can put away in readiness for the months ahead and that's what this was. But first let's see what the collective made of our monthly Style Not Age challenge, the theme for which has been chosen by Emma so let's take a look at what she's wearing.

The double breasted purple jacket with big shoulder pads and shiny buttons is everything that power dressing ought to be, especially with the addition of purple trousers. Emma does a lot of clothes shopping while abroad, that's where she found the Zara two piece. Check out her blog for the back story on Style Splash.

Another trouser suit comes from Jacqui of Mummabstylish, this one from H&M last year. Neutral and black work well together and the unstructured shirt lends the whole look a more casual style. Catch up with all of Jacqui's news over on her blog here. 

Gail did her homework to check the current definition of Power Dressing which led her to coming up with this punchy look where she's using cream to offset the red jacket and contrasting green handbag. Find her whole story here on Is This Mutton blog.

I'm more than a tad envious of Hilda who seems to have a rich seam of clothes at her disposal thanks to her local boutique, which is where this sleek navy trouser suit comes from, on loan, I have to add. She's added a fab pop of colour with her phone bag and courts to finish the look off. See more from her on Over The Hilda blog.

I'm bubbling over with excitement about this fabulous co-ord that I bought months ago when I was in Taunton. I found it in Primark where this beautiful pink and orange tweed suit was in the summer sale. The jacket was £20 and the lined shorts only £14 - I honestly couldn't believe my luck! The orange lining gives the ensemble a luxe look not normally associated with Primark. I'm a huge advocate of savvy shopping, of rooting about in the most unlikely of shops to find stylish tailoring like this. Vintage and charity shops are other obvious places not to be overlooked, especially as we're still in Second Hand September.

Of course, not everyone would agree that a 65 year old woman ought to be wearing shorts to work, but I'd respond by saying that coloured tights in a good denier can help to carry this look off. I've bought 80 denier pink tights as another option and will showcase these within the next month or so. These sizzling orange tights are from my favourite Penzance haunt, Number 36 boutique. The orange leather ankle boots were a purchase from ASOS in the spring.

My new orange handbag is from Oliver Bonas and is called Emma East to West. Not only is it all kinds of fabulous in colour with these multicolour straps, but if you follow the link you'll see that inside is a detachable clutch in a contrasting green along with another detachable zipped wallet too. I bought this recently when I was marooned in Paddington Station for 15 hours during train disruptions as Sash and I tried to travel back to Penzance. It was a little ray of sunshine on what was a very dark and stressful day.

My shirt is second hand, the brand is Lands End, and was a charity shop find many moons ago although this is the first time I've worn it, but hey, doesn't it work well? I'm always happy to add a bit of fun with pattern play. The leather belt was also a charity shop buy as were the rings.

The gold linked necklace was from Primark a couple of summers ago and my sunglasses are by Quay Australia, not new. 

My thanks go to Emily for stepping in as photographer this week. Didn't she do a good job!

This month's challenge came at just the right moment for me as the weather is changing and turning more like autumn, therefore making it a legit move to pop on this glorious tweed two piece. I'm so looking forward to wearing this over the next six months and do hope you'll enjoy seeing it often too!

Many thanks from us all on this month's style challenge. I do hope our five interpretations of Power Dressing have entertained and maybe even inspired you.

Have a great week!

Anna x

Frilled To Bits our SNA challenge for May

Hello there! How are you this fine Bank Holiday Monday? So, here's our Style Not Age challenge for May, as chosen by yours truly. Frills are all the rage with me currently, so why not share this penchant with my style sisters?

Gail from Is This Mutton is sporting her blend of citrus brights - the frilled blouse is from eBay, crops are from Roman and sandals are from ASOS. It's a fab summery look, isn't it!

Jacqui's frilled wrap dress is from Izabel Clothing and fits the bill perfectly. Sage green and paisley print are a winning combination! Catch up with Jacqui's backstory on her blog Mummabstylish. 

I love the pink frilled and pearly top of Emma's! This was a happy purchase when she was in Funchal recently. See more from her on Style Splash blog.

Hilda's frilled dress is from Whistles, a fab thank you for contributing to a recent fashion feature in Good Housekeeping. Catch up with her story on Over the Hilda blog. Hilda's perched on the balcony of her daughter's house during her child-minding stay - what a view!

If you're a regular to the blog, you'll recognise the frilled petticoat as one of my recent sewing successes. I've just altered the length, shortened it, so that it sits better under my orange dress. (See the whole outfit here in case you missed that one.) Today's offering is more vintage than new - the frilled blouse was bought in a vintage shop in Exeter many years ago and the skirt must be at least 20 years old, from good old Dorothy Perkins. 

The boots are new, bought especially to wear while I'm in my pink and orange phase. I found them on ASOS, see here. They're available in three colourways but this one is perfect for my summer trend.

Nothing new today with my accessories. Sunglasses are from Radley, belt is old as are my rings. 

My friend Fiona volunteered to take the photos when I told her about my fab new cowboy boots. We had fun as we always do during these sessions, with me doing lots of bossing about while she heckled from the sidelines. The evening sun was soft and flattering to the skin and the new walkway to the bird hide made a great catwalk. The view from the hide was glittering in the evening light.

Hope you're basking in the early summer sunshine too. Looking forward to seeing you again soon. Please leave me a comment if you've enjoyed today's post.

Have a super week!

Anna x